


May 1973

by threewalls



Series: Reincarnation drabbles [3]
Category: Yami No Matsuei
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Closeted, Crush, Double Drabble, Drabble, M/M, Male Friendship, Queer Themes, Reincarnation, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-09
Updated: 2006-07-09
Packaged: 2017-10-17 06:13:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/173784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threewalls/pseuds/threewalls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><cite>Yutaka liked mysteries. Solving them made life interesting.</cite></p>
            </blockquote>





	May 1973

**Author's Note:**

> As always, written with thanks to lynndyre.

MAY, 1973

Yutaka liked mysteries. Solving them made life interesting.

Going after Tatsumi that night and introducing himself had been a stroke of genius. 'Tatsumi Seiichirou' had been too polite not to return the favour, and too jumpy to have lied about being an Accountancy major.

Yutaka reconstructed Tatsumi's timetable from the Economics faculty noticeboard, and a mere fortnight of hit-and-miss stakeouts. He took mostly sophomore courses, and one junior. He sat by himself. Four afternoons a week, he taught at a _juku_ , and on Thursdays, he went straight home and apparently stayed there.

Every morning, until his first class, Tatsumi was in the library. Of course, the Economics library was one of a row of identical buildings. It wasn't impossible he'd gotten lost in the dark, but--

Inconclusive results required further research.

On Friday mornings, Tatsumi had some Economics core subject that filled an auditorium. No one noticed an extra student.

Yutaka made sure his braid was tucked securely under his baseball cap. He leant a little further over his desk to read over Tatsumi's shoulder, sitting in the row below him.

"Potential inconsistencies between management accounting and strategic decision making include..."

Tatsumi had nice handwriting.

He had nice hands, too.

* _juku_ \- cram school

 

JUNE, 1973

Yutaka recognised the familiar, if unexpected, suited figure watching him across two rows of cafeteria tables.

Had Tatsumi uncovered his 'research'? No, Tatsumi's glances were too uncertain-- probably more worried about being 'outed' than stalked. Yutaka offered a quick smile of recognition before deliberately turning back to Inoue, continuing their deconstruction of Harugawa-sensei's lecturing style.

Tatsumi introduced himself over Yutaka's shoulder a few minutes later, anxiety wiped from his face.

In daylight, it was startling how _blue_ Tatsumi's eyes were.

When Inoue leapt up to run to a lab session she didn't have, Yutaka realised he must have been staring.

 

JULY, 1973

Toshiyuki was returning to his family in Niigata. John was touring Hokkaido to avoid the rain. Tatsumi was staying in Kyoto for summer classes.

Yutaka summarised his structural integrity of concrete notes, pretending he wasn't listening.

Concrete resists compression ten times as well as it resists tension.

"And you, Watari-san?"

"Am I...?"

Yutaka let Tatsumi dangle, hope growing as Tatsumi's casual facade faltered.

Tatsumi sat with Yutaka's friends, but rarely spoke to Yutaka directly. Yutaka had his suspicions about that.

"Are you travelling during the break, Watari-san?"

"No. Are you?"

Yutaka rang his mother in Osaka that night to cancel.

 

AUGUST, 1973

Seiichirou apologised and left to make tea in his floor's communal kitchen.

Yutaka and Seiichirou had met at several, different cafes around the (empty) university through the summer, with increasing regularity. The last few times, they'd almost been shooed out. Yutaka had mentioned his father disapproved of his records; Seiichirou had offered to share his turntable-- but that wasn't why they were really there.

Yutaka sat on the bed, Seiichirou's bed, rather than the one chair. He looked out the window and tried not to fidget with the condoms in his pocket. It would be different, afterwards, it always was, but Seiichirou was...

When Seiichirou returned, he sat at his desk, only a foot away in his tiny apartment.

They listened to several records, but they talked more, about Seiichirou's ambivalence about returning to his father's house, parents' expectations in general, Yutaka's mother's unnatural interest in Yutaka's love life, Yutaka's love life (in very general, past-tense terms)...

It got dark outside. Confusingly, Seiichirou still hadn't moved closer.

"I'm glad you didn't misinterpret my invitation," Seiichirou said. "I've wanted to be your friend, but I wasn't sure how to approach you."

How could disappointment feel so much like relief?

"Same here."

 

NOVEMBER, 1973

"Surely dressing like this provokes avoidable assumptions."

Seiichirou had let him change for clubbing at his apartment, and now, he was staring, probably trying to pretend he'd never seen Yutaka in lip gloss before.

"Maybe I don't like the assumptions dressing more conservatively would provoke."

That had never worked on his father's lectures about 'advertising deviancy', but Seiichirou wasn't like anyone else Yutaka knew.

"You certainly look..."

Yutaka couldn't resist fluttering his eyelashes in Seiichirou's pause.

"Provoking," Seiichirou said, blushing sternly.

"For what that's worth from you, ne?" Yutaka offered, snickering until Seiichirou smiled.

Seiichirou was almost the perfect boyfriend.


End file.
